Cross-section tester.



Patented April 26, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()EFI E.

HERBERT E. SMITH, OFBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CROSS-SECTION TESTER.

- SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 758,221, dated April 26, 1904. Application filed February 27,1903- Serial Ila. 145,339. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State'of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Cross-Section Testers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like charactors on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a device by which to test the crosssection of any article of irregular shape, and more especially to test, and thereby determine, the extent of wear of railwa -rails.

It has been found in practice that rails used on electric roads where the trains run with great frequency, especially at the curves, wear very rapidly, and to insure safety it has been found necessary to have the rails inspected frequently and their cross-section tested, so

that rails which have been worn to their limit of safety may be removed and safe rails substituted therefor. The device used for this purpose must be capable of being applied quickly to the rails to ascertain the exact shape in-cross-section of the tread portion thereof and of quickly removing the device from the rail without losing the configuration gained by its application thereto, for in some roads,

' especially on elevated'roads, the trains run at two-minute intervals, and a curve may have to be tested in a number of places from one to its other end.

My novel tester comprises, essentially, conforming means that may be readily bent to the cross-section of the rail, the device being placed against the top of the rail and then applied about the sides of the tread of the rail,

and thereafter without disturbing the config-' uration thus given to the conforming means the same may be removed from the rail and its free ends applied to a templet corresponding in shape to aportion of the cross-section of the rail which is not affected by wear such, for instance, as the shoulder or part of the rail where the web joins the under side of the head. Thereafter a figure may bedrawn by a pencil guided by the conforming means that will indicate exactly the cross-section of the tested rail, and-this figure can then be compared with the original cross-section to determine the amount of wear. In one of its best and simplest forms the conforming means comprises narrow legs or members of soft pliable metal practically devoid of elasticity and which by pressure of the fingers may be made to fit and lie closely to the top and about the tread of therail and beneath the shoulders of the head.

Figure 1 shows in cross-section a rail with my cross-section tester applied thereto, the dotted lines showing the legs in their position before being bent to conform to the cross-sectional contour of the tread of the rail. Fig. 2 shows the cross-section tester removed from the rail, and Fig. 3 shows the cross-section tester applied to a templet in readiness for drawing the figure of the tested rail.

The rail A, having the tread a, is and may be of any usual shape.

The cross-section tester shown comprises,

essentially, a conforming member represented as composed of two pieces 5 b of sheet-lead. These members are represented as held each at one end at the face of the tread of the rail by a suitable holder G and the members laid on the face of the rail-head, as represented by dotted lines, have their free ends bent about device, shown as a spring 0 connected with the member 0 and engaging a stud 0 projected from the other member. By releasing the locking device after the portions 6 6 of the conforming member have been fitted to the tread of the rail the conforming member may be removed, as represented at Fig. 2, without at all disturbing the configuration given to the said members when fitting the tread of the rail, and thereafter the free ends 2 3 of the members, the holder being closed, may be applied to the rail-templet A, as represented in Fig. 3. This templet is shown as a counterpart in size and shape of the web and flange in cross-section of the true or proper wear of the head, whether top or side wear,

or a combination of both.

After laying the cross-section tester and the templet on a piece of paper a pencil may be drawn along the inner sides of the members 6 6, thus defining on the paper the'exact shape of the rail tested from the shoulders upward. This done, the original cross-section of the rail (indicated, preferably, by cutting it out in a piece of transparent celluloid) may be laid onto the figure showing the configuration of the rail-tested, and the difference between the original and the tested rail will be readily observed and can be measured and recorded. I

I believe that I am the first to employ a flexible inelastic strip that may be readily bent to conform to the edge of the tread of the rail and retain the shape given to it by pressure against the rail, and therefore this invention is notlimited to the exact shape of the members b I) nor to the exact shape shown for the members 0 0 at the top of the tread of the rail, as it will be obvious that many other plans might be devised whereby after wrapping the legs 6 6 snugly about the rail the metal of which the legs is composed might be taken of]? from the rail without disturbing the shape or configuration given to the legs while on the rail.

A number of tests may be made with a device of the character described before the conforming members must be renewed, it being understood that after a cross-section has been taken and the result plotted and compared, as described, the conforming members will be smoothed or flattened outin readiness for making another test. v

hen the conforming members give out, as they will sooner or later, depending very much upon the shape of the rails tested, they can be easily replaced, and in the drawings I have shown screws 10 to secure the members 7) and b to the separable parts 0 and 0.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A rail-tester comprising flexible nonelastic conforming means, and means to hold the same at the tread of the rail so that the conforming means when bent to indicate the configuration of the rail can be'removed without disturbing the shape imparted thereto by application to the rail, and a templet to which the free ends of said legs are applicable to position them preparatory to drawing the shape of the cross-section of the tested rail.

2. A rail-tester comprising two flexible nonelastic legs, blocks with which severally one end of each of said legs is connected, leaving the other end thereof free, a hinge connecting said blocks at a point remote from the nonelastic legs, whereby when the tester is applied to the tread of a rail the legs may be bent around the tread to conform to the configuration thereof, and the blocks be then separated to enable the legs to be removed from the rail without changing the shape given to them by contact with the tread of the rail.

3. A rail-tester comprising two flexible nonelastic legs, a block or device with which one end of each of said legs is connected, leaving the other end thereof free, whereby when the tester is applied to the tread of a rail the legs may be bent around the tread to conform to the configuration thereof, and the blocks be then separated to enable the legs to be removed from the rail without changing the shape given to them by contact with the tread of the rail, and a templet to which the free ends of said legs are applied to position them preparatory to drawing the shape of the crosssection of the tested rail.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT E. SMITH.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, EMILY (J. HODGES. 

